The Wilmingtonian., 1887-01-22

" Al IL 20 suspect Male, WneL the real Cfl To-
iual was perhaps an experienced burgIat ?
According 70 law. torture WAS arly u be
Employed against the accused u hen yid net
against the prisoner is almost col elusive, aud
only confession Is needed to make il atso.
utsly cousluslse. Il ,uteuAed that the
| p oofs of hYrie's gnt wete wanting. There
were cireE EmstaLtial evidence II the shallow
est nature, and mona whatever that Was dir.
ect
| ACCORDING to a Ito us- ,urious but usuIl
custom in Germany, tile deTuud Of the pub.
lie prosecutor and the contention Of the
counsel for the defense were refer ed u the
legal faculty of the Univ Isity Of Frankfort
| ou-Oler to decide upon. The university
| p ofeSsors examined the evidence and COP.
| ;'nd, d that it made 80 heavily against Marie
Keller that she must be subject, to torture
20 extract from her the confession r, quired
70 inally establish her guilt and justify sen.
tence of execution. Accordingly theunroit
| inate girl was plsc d On the rack, au.l her
| nrives aud muscles 50 strained, aud / nis
dislocated, that in her agony she creu out
| That she was ready t. confess. She WAS re.
moved from che rack aud admitted her guilt,
out every effort that was made to obtain
from her an explanst ton how she had man
aged to extract the money from the bag and
oox failed. She would admit her GU It, but
not say how she had committed the theft.
3 at this confession sufficed, and on June "a
1881, the unfortunate Marie Keller was exc
Q tied.
Unfortunately we have such scauty infOr-
nation relative to her eud that we can only
| iay that the Lutheran pastor who prepared
Ter for death found her at first prey tu des.
oair, still earnestly protesting her innocence
'etracng hercoufession, which she declared
was xtorted from her sorely by the unen-
durable agonies to which she was subj ,cted
Du the rack. After while, however, the
pnor creature became more composed, list
aned tn his exhortations with meekness and
submitted herself to the prospect of death
in resignation TO the will of God. The pas
Ior was himself convinced Of her gull, and
did his utmost to indIce her to admit the
justice OF her sentence, but to this he could
not bring her. She would confess again if
laid Oh the rack, but never off it, She forgaye
her enemies though she did not know who
they could be; nevertheless, she was sure
she had one or more or else, az she content.
I'd, how could the ducat have come into heI
pockets She Was hsughd IN The pr ,senuo ,r
great crowd, in the Bruder 1t so, opp
sits the door of the h use " here ihc til It hh
beeu cOmmitted-buiOru the eyes ni Lsmpe
who had been robbed; of his " lie, shu lG,,
vainly rndeavoled t. Save Ter anl ni l..
mot ter, who had been with h,r daj, w.nn
The uuhap y gill clran,d tile liunl y irtc IT,,
mouey b II was.
The poor giil had not be long ,id b,
lore somehow ieeling arose anon. thN pa4
pie of Berliu that, after all, in spite Of he
own confession, Marie KYll r Was suiltIs,,
and that il WAS judic al murder that hsn
been committed.
The evidence WAS discussed. and is weak
ness was seen. The counsel f,r tn prisoner
the eI mining judge, the egal laculty o,
Frankfort, the Z iuit, the public genrially,
had missed seeing one little feature in tl.,
case which, when eau -ht sight ui, complete
~ altered lts cUmplcxttn
Why was it that the mistress of poo Mari
had offered her mother the money to !, fund
Lampert his loss? Was the offer made out
Of charity? 1t will be remem bered that
when Frau Keller narrated this to the exam
lining judge he put the story aside as a lie
and did not ask another question relative to
it. Nevertheless, after Marie execution the
old woman persisted in her story, and as she
did SO people asked: Why did Eau Lampeit
urge the money OH the woman aud ty to in
duce her to confess that her dau ghter was
guiltyP
The robbery in the Bruder strasse, instead
of being forgotten after Marie had been
hanged and buried, seemed as IL it would not
he laid at rest. 1t continued to be discussed; !;
parties formed; some accused Frau Lampert
Others the daughter, others again said that
Lampert had made miscalcuation when
counting his money, and had written wrong
sum On the ticket. He had not been robbed
he had lost nothing, he had deceived him
self This latter opinion slowly made its
way and prevailed over the others. Il was
the only really satisfactory explanation of
the mystery, and it was one ominently sim
pie. 1t was in vain Tor Launpert to protest
that he could not have been deceived; few
believed him. That Marie was innocent
everyone concluded and that a crime had
been committed was universally admitted,
and Marie's death was spoken ofas the 'mur-
der in the Bruder strasse'-when-one eve-
ming as Lampert came in from the tavern
where he drank beer with few boon COM
panious, az he opened his house door, he saw
something that made him start back and ut
Ter a cry ofhorror. Before him was his wife's
body, hanging from a crook In the ceiling.
Almost before he had recovered h mself,
and had the courage TO cut her down, the
examining magistrate and a policeman
arrived. The former had received letter
from Nine. Lampert, in which she confessed
that Marie had died innocent, and that she
had surrepttieusly taken the money while
assisting her husband in counting it. AS he
counted she had slipped some of the coins up
her sleeve. He was going on the morrow to
Leipsic, and she had been given a sum Of
money only adequate to meet the ordinary
household expenses. This had annoyed and
disappointed her. IL her husband went to
Geipsic he would enjoy himself there, go to
thnut ,tt,lr a H.. -